Negotiating Price of Diamonds

TPF may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, and others

Kimf79

Kimf79

O.G.
Aug 4, 2009
234
2
#1
Hi All,

I will probably be upgrading my diamond to a bit bigger of a size sometime this year. I will be shopping in a jewelry district but I still felt the prices were kinda high for jewelry district at the place we originally got my ring. When I decide on a diamond, what approximate percentage amount do you think its ok to ask the jeweler to negotiate down (i.e. 10%, 20%)?

Thanks!
 
#4
You can 'arm' yourself with pricing from REPUTABLE websites and bring that in. Typically their pricing is lower than what you will find at a brick & mortar. However, I would go in thinking you are using it to start the negotiations and to reach an acceptable price point......basically just as a negotiation tool. This will at least start a conversation for you. Good Luck!
 
#5
^it's how we did ours.
I found the perfect stone online - perfect price, cut, etc. . .
then went to my jeweler and offered her the opportunity to beat it. She did :D
 
#7
Sorry, I am not help here, just wanted to comment that the subject made me think about a husband-and-wife-scene, where she negotiates the price with him. For the diamonds he is going to get her for her anniversary. :D

Good luck and enjoy the process if you can! I am very bad at negotiating.
 
#8
I think it all depends on the place and person and diamond as well. If the diamond you pick is going to be a harder to sell diamond, it seems they will negotiate more. If it is something they have a large customer base for then they won't. I had a recent experience wih two diamonds. One was going to be impossible to sell by a particular jeweler and i knew there would be very few people who wanted it. And the second was what has been so popular with the asian market, smaller and perfect. So we were able to negotiate the price of the harder to sell one down by 45%! But of course we couldn't get a penny off the second one. I agree with other posters, be armed with online pricing of what you want. Also some websites offer wholesale reports, they aren't the Rap reports, but good enough. Then you can get an idea of how much room they really have to move and you can use that in the negotiations. Good luck! I can't wait to hear how this turns out!
 
#9
queennadine said:
And how do you ask for a discount? What exactly should you say? (I'm terrible at negotiating!)
Click to expand...

"and is this your final price or could we negotiate something better?"

Then, if they ask you what sort of price you had in mind, you can tell them that you've seen ABC from vendor X for price Y but that ideally you'd rather work with someone local/someone you've worked with before/someone who's been recommended to you/whatever other reason you want to buy from them. There's no shame in haggling. Being confident, well-informed and believing that the deal you want is fair all help.
 
#11
When my DH and I were looking for a diamond I did tons of research online and went armed with paperwork showing exactly what I wanted. In the end I got what I wanted for MUCH less than what I was expecting. Paying in cash helped too...no tax!
 
#13
Tell the store you are going to pay in cash and then ask them for their best price. Almost any independent store will come down at least 20% and in many cases much more.

Good luck and we look forward to seeing your new ring.
 
#15
lilmountaingirl - agreed. It depends on the diamond and how long it's been in inventory and the demand for the clarity/cut/color/carat types.

I think it's hard to say whether or not negotiating will be as successful as it was in the past because the diamond market is right now not in favor of the consumer. And b&m stores aren't able to mark up as much as they did before because more people are buying online and noticing the price differences. Diamond prices are increasing rapidly from already high prices and demand is high so there is less motivation for jewelers to discount because the chances of them selling it to another person for a higher price is high.

My best suggestion would be to definitely go and do some internet printouts from bluenile, whiteflash, jamesallen, briangavin, goodoldgold and all the main internet vendors and then go to the jeweler in person and ask what they can do for you to match it. My friend emailed our jeweler with a JamesAllen virtual diamond link and he called in it. She got him to give it to her without tax and with 3% pricescope discount off what the diamond was listed on JamesAllen for.

But also make sure you know what you are getting. Sometimes they will say they can beat the internet vendors price but the stone on the internet may be a superior cut versus an excellent cut or have little slight differences. Also I think prices vary on the type of inclusion. So make sure what is comparable to what you have printed.

GOOD LUCK!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top